Author: Nalchajian Markos

AZG Armenian Daily #181, 08/10/2005

Karabakh issue

‘NK CONFLICT HAS NO SETTLEMENT THAT ALL SIDES WOULD BE HAPPY WITH’

Armenian President Repeats That Karabakh’s Independence Has Nothing to Do
With Azerbaijan’s Territorial Integrity

At a joint press conference with his Latvian counterpart, President Robert
Kocharian said that there is no settlement to the Nagorno Karabakh issue
that will make all sides happy. To a Latvian journalist’s question “How is
that possible to find a solution that would satisfy all parties?”, the
Armenian President said that first of all the people of Karabakh should be
asked with whom and how they want to live.

The officials in Yerevan have been stating in recent years that Nagorno
Karabakh never was within Azerbaijan’s structure and will never be or else
Karabakh’s independence has nothing to do with Azerbaijan’s territorial
integrity. These statements from Armenian President’s mouth yesterday came
in very handy.

Allegedly, president Kocharian made this statement especially in the
presence of President Vaira Vike-Freiberga of Latvia who said in Baku a few
days ago that “violation of a sovereign state’s territorial integrity is a
worrisome factor”. Besides, Nagorno Karabakh was forced into Azerbaijan like
Latvia was once annexed to the Soviet empire. At the press conference
following the president’s meeting, Kocharian said that it is
incomprehensible speaking about territorial integrity in this case when we
deal with collapse of an empire. “I see no contradiction in the principle of
territorial wholeness and peoples’ right for self-determination. Karabakh’s
independence has nothing in common with Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity.
After the collapse of the USSR, Karabakh declared its independence through a
referendum and Azerbaijan declared of revival of its independence lost in
1918. Nagorno Karabakh has never been in the structure of independent
Azerbaijan”, the leader of Armenia said.

Vike-Freiberga has previously introduced her state’s position on NK issue as
that of the EU which places a country’s territorial integrity first. “When
an empire crumbles there is no question of territorial integrity. The
collapse of the Soviet Union gave birth to 15 new states, the map of Europe
changed, 5 new states emerged on the Balkans and 6th one is in the process
of formation (perhaps he meant Kosovo – ed.), two separate states were
formed in the place of Czechoslovakia… The issue of territorial integrity
is out of question”, President Kocharian said.

Asked by another Latvian journalist whether the fact of Armenian-Russian
close ties is not an obstacle for deeper Armenian-Latvian relations,
Kocharian said that Armenia implements policy of complementarism: “We have
very good relations with Iran, NATO, USA and Russia. If we managed to
maintain good relations with Iran and the US in the same time why should we
have problems in cooperating with Latvia maintaining meanwhile good
relations with Russia?”, Robert Kocharian said.

By Tatoul Hakobian

Public Television of Armenia
Oct 7 2005

Armenian, Latvian leaders discuss bilateral cooperation

[Presenter] Following an official welcoming ceremony for the
high-ranking guest, the Armenian and Latvian presidents, Robert
Kocharyan and Vaira Vike-Freiberga, held a face-to-face meeting at
the Armenian president’s residency this morning.

The Latvian president said that the political dialogue between the
two countries was at the highest level. After this the Armenian and
Latvian talks continued with the participation of the delegations.
The sides discussed the important directions of economic cooperation
and the opportunities for intensifying them. The presidents made a
joint statement and signed several agreements on the stimulation of
mutual investment and its protection as well as the cooperation in
the spheres of culture and the customs.

[Kocharyan] We held face-to-face and expanded meetings. We discussed
economic and political issues. I informed the Latvian president of
the Nagornyy Karabakh settlement and our approaches to the
developments in the region , including the process of integration
into the European Union. Latvia’s entrance to the EU is very
interesting for us. We are confident that Latvia will help us within
the framework of the New Neighbourhood Policy.

We discussed specific directions of Latvia’s assistance and will
probably reach an agreements on this matter late this year. I
expressed my satisfaction with the recent level of the ongoing
political dialogue between our countries. The interparliamentary
relations, meetings and mutual understanding between the two
countries are very high. I am pleased with today’s meeting and give
the floor to my Latvian counterpart.

[Vaira Vike-Freiberga, speaking in English with Armenian voice-over]
The documents, which we have signed, will allow us to expand
cooperation in several important spheres. We reached an agreement at
the meeting that several spheres of mutual interest should be chosen
in order we focus on them in our cooperation. Armenia and Latvia
should join their efforts and expand relations. We welcome
cooperation with this region within the framework of the EU
programme.

If it is impossible to hold talks with all the countries of the
region simultaneously, the EU has to hold talks with the countries
separately in order to avoid creating obstacles to the negotiations
[between the EU and the South Caucasus countries].

It is obvious that along with the regional interests, there are
disagreements in the region. The experience of the Baltic region
shows that the coincidence of interests of the neighbouring countries
can be effective for the whole region. [Video showed the meeting]

YOUNG EGYPTIAN PHOTOGRAPHER YOUSSEF NABIL TURNS HIS LENS ON HIMSELF
By Kaelen Wilson-Goldie Daily Star staff Friday

The Daily Star, Lebanon
October 7 2005

Self-portrait exhibition at Cairo gallery one of artist’s four
high-profile shows this year

BEIRUT: Renowned novelist Naguib Mahfouz: all glasses and graying
goatee with a smile pronouncing itself in the curve of his cheeks.

Legendary bellydancer Fifi Abdou: her famous waist cinched in a black
evening gown, standing on what look to be a powerful pair of shins,
her body cropped at her sternum. The movie star Suhair Nassim, aka
Youssra: eyes closed to convey lust and longing, planting a sumptuous
kiss on the lips of her own reflection. The crude yet immensely popular
singer Shaaban Abdel Rehim (of “I Hate Israel” fame): a close-up of
his hands, weighed down with heavy gold rings and bracelets, gently
folded over his soft and protruding gut.

Young Egyptian photographer Youssef Nabil may be best known for his
celebrity portraiture (all of the above plus Paulo Coelho, Julian
Schnabel and John Waters, to name a few) and his quirky images of
colleagues and friends, such as singer Natacha Atlas (a close-up of her
cleavage), actress Rosy De Palma (sticking her tongue out the corner
of her mouth) and artists Shirin Neshat (in severe black eyeliner),
Tracey Emin (in cowboy boots over argyle socks) and Ghada Amer (face
down on her drafting board with a thimble on her middle finger). But
from now through October 12, Nabil is showing a much different face
at Cairo’s Townhouse Gallery of Contemporary Art – his own.

“I’ve spent a lot of time with myself since I moved to Paris three
years ago,” says Nabil, in an interview conducted between Paris and
Beirut. “It reminded me of my childhood. I was a very introverted
child, always by myself in my room. That made me ask myself many
questions about my life and existence. I decided to talk about it in
my work.”

The Townhouse show, titled “Realities to Dreams,” features 11
self-portraits, all done in Nabil’s signature style. He takes
evocative, high-contrast black-and-white photographs with a
35-millimeter camera. Then he applies the antiquated technique of
hand-painting them all, meticulously, painstakingly, one at a time
(he prints his photographs in editions of 10, but the hand-coloring
essentially renders each picture unique).

Whether he’s shooting himself or a subject, Nabil works on location,
not inside a studio. The set-up doesn’t take much time, he says. “I
ask people to look the way they usually are … No makeup as I do it
myself when coloring the photo. I like to meet people at least one time
before the shoot. We feel things [out] and talk about everything. Then
the day of the shoot is really fast, sometimes it’s only for 10 or
15 minutes … Most of the time I spend is when I color. It takes me
three days to do one photo. I also could photograph any time of the
day, but to start coloring I need to be in a certain mental flow and
free from all other thoughts.”

Nabil, who turns 33 next month, originally wanted to be a filmmaker.

As a kid he was inspired by the retro glamor of Egyptian cinema’s
golden age, and particularly by the photo-novels used to accompany
those old films. He studied literature at Cairo University and
began taking pictures at 19. Then he got two opportunities he’d be
crazy to refuse – the first as an assistant to New York-based fashion
photographer David Lachapelle (who, interestingly enough, just released
his own first film, the critically acclaimed documentary “Rize”
about hip-hop dance styles krumping and clowning in Los Angeles),
the second as an assistant to Paris-based fashion photographer and
celebrity portraitist Mario Testino.

In addition to learning from the expertise of Lachapelle and
Testino, both giants in terms of fashion photography and skilled at
crossing over into contemporary art, Nabil benefited immensely from
a long friendship with legendary Egyptian-Armenian photographer Leon
Boyadjian, better known as Van Leo. With Van Leo’s work, Nabil shares
a sense of faded beauty, crumbling elegance, and rootless nostalgia.

While it is tempting to read Nabil’s self-portraits as an homage
to Van Leo, who once rather famously shot 400 pictures of himself
donning 400 different identities in a single year, Nabil insists his
intentions are personal, interior and reflective.

“I started doing them in 1992 in my room,” he explains. Of the images
on view at Townhouse, he adds: “I did all of them during the past three
years, in my travels. Some I had the idea [for] before and traveled
specially to do the portrait, and some were more spontaneous. I felt
in all of them that I was a visitor.”

The effect of Nabil’s current exhibition in Cairo, and of his
self-portraits on their own as a body of work, is subtle, like a
graceful accumulation of gestures. What becomes clear when looking
at them all at once is that Nabil never faces his own camera directly.

He looks above or to the side of the lens or he turns his head
completely. The viewer becomes Nabil’s accomplice, gazing out onto
the same scene and then, inevitably, searching for something. What
can be seen in this quaint lantern nestled into a pile of autumn
leaves? What can be found hidden among the delicate leaves and lily
pads of an English park east of Paris?

“There is always something that we look for, that we wish to have
or understand or achieve,” he says. But “nothing is complete, and
nothing will remain the same.”

As a title, “Realities to Dreams” is “a personal thing. Since I was
a kid I had a way of mixing my dreams with my realities and realities
with my dreams. It’s my way of seeing things, too … ”

The Townhouse show is one of four high-profile exhibitions Nabil
has lined up for the rest of this year. Through October 14, his more
glamorous imagery and celebrity portraiture is on view at the upstart
Dubai gallery Third Line.

In late November, Nabil is participating in the Institut du Monde
Arabe’s blockbuster show on contemporary Arab photography, featuring
nearly 25 artists from Jananne al-Ani, Nadim Asfar and Lara Baladi
to Susan Hefuna, Randa Shaath, Ahlam Shibli and the team of Paola
Yacoub and Michel Lasserre. Nabil will show self-portraits and nudes.

Before the year is out, he has another solo exhibition at Patricia
Liligant in New York, a 57th Street gallery that specializes in vintage
and contemporary photography and houses an archive of work by the likes
of Hans Bellmer, Brassai and Man Ray (not bad company to be in). There,
Nabil will show “Not Afraid to Love,” a collection of work done on
more sexual themes (photographs like the one titled “Tamer,” framing
a young man with an issue of Playboy draped lazily across his chest,
an arm reaching down, out of the composition, into the imagination).

Nabil doesn’t imagine he’ll ever give up black-and-white film,
hand-tinting or the idea of portraiture. “I like people and like
watching them,” he jokes. “I guess I’m a voyeur by nature.” He hasn’t
given up on film and is writing his first movie now. He hopes to take
Elizabeth Taylor’s portrait one day. And he still pines for never
having the chance to shoot Frida Kahlo or Umm Kalthoum. Impossible
in reality, perhaps. But highly plausible in Nabil’s dreams.

Youssef Nabil’s “Realities to Dreams” is on view at Cairo’s Townhouse
Gallery of Contemporary Art through October 12. For more information,
call +20 2 576 8086 or check out

“Youssef Nabil: Portraits” is on view at Dubai’s Third Line through
October 14. For more information, call +971 4 394 3194 or check out

CRITICALLY INJURED: EGOYAN ADMITS HE’S HURT BY RECENT REVIEWS OF WHERE THE TRUTH LIES
By Sarah Rowland

Montreal Mirror, Canada
Oct 6 2005

There are those who view Atom Egoyan as the golden boy of Canadian
cinema. After all, he’s been the darling of the Toronto Film Festival
for more than 10 years now, raking in award after award, only to donate
a big chunk of his cash prizes to under-funded Cancon filmmakers,
like Mina Shum.

But then there are those who see him as a pretentious art-pig whose
greatest talent is manipulating art councils for grant money. It’s
safe to say that Rick Groen falls under the latter category. Last
September, Groen wrote a catty review in The Globe and Mail that not
only slagged Egoyan’s latest film, Where the Truth Lies, but almost
every movie the man’s ever made.

“It was unbelievably painful- more so than those sort of things
should be,” says Egoyan, who, for what it’s worth, is one of the
nicest directors one could ever hope to interview. “When you get a
criticism of an individual film, you completely understand that some
people might not like that particular work. And you’re also able to
take solace in the body of work that you’ve done.” Not so here. The
article went on to compare and contrast Egoyan and David Cronenberg,
with the Crash director coming out on top.

“I think this false kind of competitiveness that’s been set up between
David and I is just ridiculous,” says Egoyan. “I adore David.

He’s my mentor. So it just seems odd that our two careers are lined
up. I mean, when David read it, he called me to say that he was
appalled.” According to Egoyan, this kind of destructive criticism
is very indicative of anglo culture.

“The evening that it came out, I was at a Unifrance function and
the ambassador was talking about how the new generation of French
filmmakers would make the old generation proud and I almost felt like
weeping because that doesn’t happen in English Canada,” he says.

“It’s like, ‘Let’s demolish whatever we build up just so we can build
it up again.'”

The Duke, the Empress and the Almighty

In the spirit of building up, Where the Truth Lies has gotten a raw
deal in more ways than one. Along with mixed reviews (as many have
already read by now), Egoyan’s murder mystery has also been unjustly
slapped with an NC-17 rating for a harmless threesome scene in a
hotel room. This is unfortunate for several reasons; most notably
in that all the controversy has overshadowed the actual movie, which
is an intriguing whodunit starring Kevin Bacon and Colin Firth as a
Martin and Lewisesque comedy team. The duo split up at the peak of
their career after the body of beautiful young chambermaid (Rachel
Blanchard) shows up in their hotel room.

One of the film’s major themes is how we treat celebs like superior
beings. In his everyday Toronto existence-where the only attention he
gets is turning the occasional head-it’s hard for Egoyan to relate to
this kind of worship. But when he goes home to his motherland Armenia,
it’s quite a different story.

“We are like gods there,” he says, referring to himself and his wife.

“People stop in the middle of the street and look at you and
start crying. And in that particular culture, there are no physical
boundaries, so strangers are constantly touching, hugging and kissing
you. I didn’t like that. I think having people treating you as this
super human all the time would be an impossible way to live.”

Thanks to this taste of fanatical behaviour, Egoyan says he can better
understand Bacon and Firth’s characters, who spend a great deal of
off-time hiding out in their fivestar den of excess.

“I certainly see how a celebrity would need to have this one particular
space or zone where they feel they can escape from it all.” He can
also relate to being one of the people who dote on these privileged
individuals.

“I was a houseboy at the Empress Hotel when I was growing up in
Victoria. And it amazed me how much access I would have to strangers’
rooms. Just by delivering sheets or cleaning up a tray I could suddenly
walk into someone else’s life. I’ll never forget walking into John
Wayne’s room. It was just this weird thing for a 16-year-old to
suddenly have access to the great man,” he says before adding,
“And no, I didn’t have a threesome with John Wayne.”

Where the Truth Lies opens Friday, Oct. 7

ARTIST FINDS REBIRTH IN NEW WESTON LIBRARY EXHIBIT
By Cheryl Balian Scaparrotta/ correspondent

Weston Town Crier, MA
Oct 6 2005

The Weston Public Library has earned a reputation among Boston-area
artists as a supportive outlet for public exhibits, and this month
is no different. A unique series of prints are on display this month
that combine the methods of printmaking, painting and drawing.

“These works were made when I returned to art again after a long
hiatus,” said John Avakian, an artist from Sharon whose monoprints and
monotypes are on display through Oct. 28. “My work is about playing
with color and texture.”

Avakian explains that a monotype is created by putting a paint image
on Plexiglas or aluminum. While the paint is still wet, it is covered
with paper and put on a press.

“You adjust the pressure with rollers, and the image becomes
transferred to paper,” he said.

The most basic type of monoprint is a handprint or footprint. No two
prints are ever alike, and the appeal of the monotype is a translucency
that creates a quality of light different from a painting on paper.

This brand of creativity is a slight departure from what is normally
found in the library’s exhibit space.

“We receive work from painters, sculptors and photographers most of
the time, so we enjoyed seeing another medium,” said Rebekah Lord
Gardiner, chair of the arts and exhibitions committee at the library.

“One of the purposes of the committee is to exhibit work that people
may not be familiar with. And being a printmaker myself, I’m very
excited for library patrons to be exposed to such prints.”

Avakian calls the collection of 18 works at the library “the rebirth
of celebration series.” While his compositions are mostly abstract,
a few contain literal images.

“One is titled ‘Cupid Enters the Ruins,’ and it’s a metaphor for
several things,” he explained. “One of those is the falling apart
of my own life, which is why I took a hiatus from art, and another
alludes to the Armenian Genocide, which my parents survived while
their families were wiped out.”

But, he is quick to add, “It’s a celebration series because I came
back into art.”

Avakian, who originally hails from Worcester, will be at the Weston
Public Library on Sunday, Oct. 9 from 2 to 4:30 p.m. to meet the
public.

Armenian Assembly of America
1140 19th Street, NW, Suite 600
Washington, DC 20036
Phone: 202-393-3434
Fax: 202-638-4904
Email: [email protected]
Web:
 
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 4, 2005
CONTACT: Christine Kojoian
Email: [email protected]

ARMENIAN ASSEMBLY CO-HOSTS SPECIAL CAPTIOL HILL EVENT CELEBRATING
KARABAKH’S INDEPENDENCE

Event Honors 14 Years of Freedom, Democracy & Economic Development

Washington, DC – On September 28, Members of the Congressional Caucus
on Armenian Issues joined British House of Lords Vice Speaker Baroness
Cox and the Armenian-American community in celebrating the 14th
anniversary of Nagorno Karabakh’s independence. The Capitol Hill
ceremony was hosted by the Office of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic in
the U.S., the Armenian Embassy, Armenian Assembly and Armenian
National Committee.

NKR Representative to the U.S. Vardan Barseghian opened the event by
discussing Karabakh’s struggle for independence. “Fourteen years have
passed since the day when the people of Karabakh said a firm NO to
continued foreign oppression. Fourteen years of ongoing struggle to
survive and prosper against overwhelming odds. Fourteen years of
serious achievements. Fourteen years of success. Many formally
recognized countries would wish to be able to say this about their
recent history, but only a few can.”

The event, held in cooperation with the Co-Chairs of the Congressional
Caucus on Armenian Issues, also included remarks by Armenian
Ambassador to the U.S. Tatoul Markarian and the following
congressional leaders: Caucus Co-Chairs Joe Knollenberg (R-MI) and
Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) and Caucus Members Reps. Barney Frank
(D-MA), Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), George Radanovich (R-CA) and Adam
Schiff (D-CA).

Knollenberg and Pallone, who have both traveled to Karabakh,
reiterated their commitment to strengthening bilateral relations and
to work with Congress to encourage ongoing developments in the region.

Congressman Hinchey added, “The people of Nagorno Karabakh have the
right to assert their independence and freedom; they have that right
and they should be provided the opportunity to do so. I am very proud
to be with you to assert my unity with you and your enterprise.”

The evening’s keynote speaker was Baroness Caroline Cox, Vice Speaker
of the British House of Lords. Baroness Cox, a well-known champion of
Karabakh’s right to self-determination, spoke passionately about the
great strides Karabakh has made since the 1994 cease-fire accord.

“Surely there must be some recognition of the rights of a vulnerable
minority, threatened by a repressive state with attempted ethnic
cleansing or genocide, to have the right to claim their independence
in order to survive,” said Baroness Cox. “…The time for recognition
of the rights of the people of Karabakh for self-determination is NOW.

Assembly Executive Director Bryan Ardouny commended the people of
Karabakh who beat overwhelming challenges to live in freedom.

“The people of Nagorno Karabakh have overcome great obstacles in the
face of Azerbaijan’s aggression and war against them,” Ardouny said.
“The fact that they prevailed is undoubtedly a testament to their
strength of character and unrelenting desire to be free.”

Ardouny added: “Abraham Lincoln is quoted as saying ‘Freedom is the
last, best hope of earth.’ To that I would add, look no further than
Karabakh – it is a place of hope and freedom.'”

The Armenian Assembly of America is the largest Washington-based
nationwide organization promoting public understanding and awareness
of Armenian issues. It is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt membership
organization.

NR#2005-101

Photographs available on the Assembly’s Web site at the following
link:

s/2005-101/2005-101-1.JPG

Caption: Vice Speaker of the British House of Lords Baroness Caroline
Cox flanked by Assembly Congressional Relations Director Rob Mosher,
left, and Executive Director Bryan Ardouny.

2ND INTERNATIONAL CHESS TOURNAMENT CONDUCTED IN NAGORNO KARABAKH

De Facto, Armenia
Oct 4 2005

The International chess tournament opened in Stepanakert. 20 sportsmen
from Armenia, Russia, the US, Germany, Nederland, China, Spain,
Finland, Poland, Ukraine, Latvia and Moldova are to participate in
the event.

According to De Facto correspondent in Stepanakert, a lot of famous
chess players are among the participants of the tournament: the US
champion Hikaru Nakamura, the second chess player of China Bu Ksangjy,
Alexei Dreev (Russia), Ivan Sokolov (Nederland), Yevgeny Sveshnikov
(Latvia), Levon Aronyan (Armenia) and others.

To note, it is the second international chess tournament conducted
in Stepanakert. The first one was dedicated to the 75 anniversary of
the 9th world champion Tigran Petrosyan.

On October 1, in the course of the ceremony of opening the NKR Minister
of Education, Culture and Sport Kamo Atayan welcomed the tournament’s
participants. “It is the second traditional tournament in the capital
of independent Nagorno Karabakh. We hope the interest to the ancient
and eternally young game will increase year by year: the number of
the tournament’s participants will grow, which will contribute to
the strengthening of sport and not only sport ties between Armenia
and the countries represented by the participants”, noted Kamo Atayan.

The tournament is conducted according to A and B schemes. By the
results of the toss – up, the following participants met in the A
scheme of the tournament: Ashot Anastasyan (Armenia) – Bartholomeo
Matcheya (Poland), Hikaru Nakamura (the US) – Karen Asryan (Armenia),
Victor Bologan (Moldova) – Levon Aronyan (Armenia), Ivan Sokolov
(Nederland) – Alexei Dreev (Russia), Vasily Ivanchuk ( Ukraine) –
Bu Ksangjy (China).

The B scheme tournament: Catherina Lagno (Ukraine) – Tigran Petrosyan
(Armenia), Yevgeny Sveshnikov (Latvia) – Lopes Martinez (Spain), Sergey
Grigoryants (Russia) – Ervin Lami (Nederland), Beniamin Galstyan
(Armenia) – Arthur Tchibukhchyan (Armenia) and Arsen Yeghiazaryan
(Armenia) – Raj Tishberek (Germany).

OVER HALF OF PEOPLE SUPPORT MILITARY ACTION TO RESOLVE GARABAGH CONFLICT – SURVEY

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Oct 4 2005

Baku, October 3, AssA-Irada
51% of the Azerbaijani citizens believe settlement of the
Armenia-Azerbaijan Upper Garabagh conflict is possible through military
action, while 32% through negotiations, according to a survey held
by the hard-line Garabagh Liberation Organization (GLO) among 2,102
respondents on Saturday.

According to the results of another poll conducted by the GLO in
September, 49% of people deemed resolution of the Garabagh conflict
through war possible, while 35% gave preference to peace.

54% of young men and 31% of women want the conflict to be settled
through military operations, while 29% and 49% respectively – by
peaceful means. Most of the elderly said they consider the conflict
settlement possible through military action.*

AUSTRIANS SEE ACCESSION BID AS NEW SIEGE BY OTTOMANS
Stephen Castle

The Independent, UK
Oct 3 2005

Across Europe, opinion may be divided on whether Turkey should be
allowed to enter the EU. But in Austria there is little sign of a
debate because history ensures that the issue touches the rawest
of nerves.

In 1683 the Ottoman army of Kara Mustafa Pasha was routed at the gates
of Vienna in a defeat that marked the last Turkish effort to take the
city. All around the Austrian capital are reminders of the battle and,
so strong is the event in the national consciousness, that newspapers
have characterised Ankara’s EU bid as a new siege of Vienna.

To complicate matters further Austria is a strong supporter of
(Christian) Croatia, which also wants to join the EU. This step has
been held up because of a row over Zagreb’s lack of co-operation in
hunting down a suspected war criminal, Ante Gotovina.

Austrians feel it would be wrong to start talking to Turkey while
holding back on Croatia. Vienna’s critics sometime suggest darkly
that Austria’s own past may prompt it to worry less about punishing
war crimes than other nations.

His tough stance has proved politically popular for the Austrian
Chancellor, Wolfgang Schnssel, whose party was crushed in regional
elections yesterday.

Elsewhere in Europe, the echoes of history have played a part in the
debate. France, home to Europe’s largest Armenian population, has
sometimes had difficult relations with Turkey. In 2001 its parliament
formally recognised the Armenian genocide (during the collapse of
the Ottoman empire) provoking fury from Ankara.

Ironically Ankara’s biggest rival, Greece, never sought to hold up
talks, believing that a Turkey inside the EU would be more modern,
restrained and susceptible to outside influence.

TURKEY-EU: BLOC CAN BECOME ‘GLOBAL PLAYER’ OR REMAIN A ‘CHRISTIAN CLUB’

AKI, Italy
Oct 3 2005

Ankara, 2 Oct. (AKI) – As the scheduled start on Monday of Turkey’s
entry talks with the European Union looked threatened by objections
from some of the bloc’s members, the Turkish premier urged the EU not
to remain a “Christian club”. “Europe can either decide to become
a global actor or it can fence itself off as a Christian club,”
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said on Sunday during a visit
to Turkey’s eastern Anatolia region.

On Monday, an EU emergency meeting in Luxembourg went into a second
day, as Austria clung to a demand that the 25-nation bloc offer Turkey
a “privileged partnership”‘ as an alternative to full membership in
talks due to start at 5 pm local time.

British foreign secretary Jack Straw, told journalists after bilateral
meetings with Austrian foreign minister, Urusla Plassnik, as well
as with the foreign ministers of Greece and Cyprus – who also have
deep reservations over the Turkish bid – that negotiations were
“hard and diffucult.”

Straw added that he “could not be certain ” that an agreement could
be reached.

In an interview with Italian daily La Repubblica published on Monday,
Erdogan reiterated the Turkish government’s assertion that it has
complied with all the preconditions set by Brussels for the start of
the talks, and that he was confident that they would go ahead.

“I believe that those who promised to begin this journey will keep
their word,” he said, but warned, that “if today they place before
us different conditions, then Turkey will not swallow such a ruse,
and it will continue along its own path.”

Erdogan dismissed one of the main sticking points to the Turkish bid:
Ankara’s refusal to recognise EU member Cyprus, which was recently
described as an “act of provocation” by the Cypriot foreign minister,
George Iacovu.

“I would like to say only this: Remember 24 April 2004, the day of
the United Nations referendum on Cyprus’ re-unification, accepted by
the Turkish Cypriots but which failed because of a boycott by Greek
Cypriots. One week later Greek Cyprus became a EU member with all of
its border problems… whoever fails to resolve these problmes cannot
claim to represent the whole island [of Cyprus] but can only present
itself as southern Cyprus,” Erdogan said.

Another stumbling block to Turkey’s accession is the country’s refusal
to allow public debate on the so-called “Armenian Genocide,” of 1915
which according to many historians claimed the lives of some 1.5
million Armenians. Erdogan has defended renowned Turkish author,Orhan
Pamuk, who is to stand trial for writing about the massacre in a recent
newspaper article, but the Turkish premier argues his hands are tied.

“The media has to understand that this case [Pamuk’s] does not involve
the country’s executive and legislative powers, but the judiciary. It’s
up to the magistrates to evaluate the facts and we have to respect
their decisions,” Erdogan told La Repubblica.

Turkey would become the EU’s first Muslim member, with a population
of 72 million that would rank it as the EU’s second largest country
after Germany. It would also be the bloc’s poorest country, with
gross domestic product per person at a quarter of the EU average.

Resistance to Turkish entry rose after French and Dutch voters four
months ago rejected the EU constitution, partly out of concern that
the future admission of Turkey would cost jobs and growth in western
Europe.

Only 35 percent of EU citizens favour letting Turkey in, according
to an EU-sponsored poll in September.